Starz Developing Ballet Drama

Continuing to build its roster of original productions, Starz is developing a new drama exploring the underside of the competitive ballet world.

The premium network, which became a separate publicly traded entity earlier this month, will work with Breaking Bad co-executive producer Moira Walley-Beckett and Lawrence Bender on the untitled drama following a young female ballet dancer, Claire, who brings a troubled past to a prestigious ballet company in New York.

The new original series will be produced by Starz Entertainment with executive producers Lawrence Bender (Oscar nominated for Inglourious Basterds, Pulp Fiction and Good Will Hunting) and Kevin Brown (Roswell). Moira Walley-Beckett, currently a co-executive producer on AMC’s Breaking Bad, was recently nominated for a 2013 Golden Globe Award, a PGA Award, a primetime Emmy for outstanding drama series in 2012, nominated for a WGA Award in 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013, resulting in a 2012 win for her work on Breaking Bad, and a PEN award in 2010.

Oscar nominee Bender (Inglourious Basterds, Good Will Hunting) and Kevin Brown (Roswell) will produce for Starz, alongside Walley-Beckett, who will write the script. The trio all have ties to the ballet world, with Bender and Walley-Beckett both former dancers, and Brown's family comprising dancers and serving as the basis for the Oscar-nominated feature The Turning Point.

Starz will retain domestic and international multiplatform rights, including TV, home entertainment and digital.

The announcement comes as Starz has launched the final season of its Spartacus franchise, and will premiere the second season of Miami retro hotel drama Magic City and introduce Da Vinci's Demons and new limited series The White Queen.

Also in the Starz pipeline: a Sixties' crime drama from The Departed's William Monahan; sci-fi action thriller Incursion from Spartacus' Steven DeKnight; a potential Spartacus spinoff.